This invention relates to a magnetic recording medium for a magnetic disk apparatus, etc., and more particularly to a magnetic recording medium of high reliability in corrosion resistance, wear resistance, etc. suitable for a high recording density.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-33523, a magnetic recording medium using a metallic magnetic thin film has been proposed for a high recording density. Generally, a magnetic recording medium is formed by evaporation, sputtering, plating, ion beam sputtering, etc. With the recent increasing demand for a higher recording density and a higher reliability, it has been proposed to add a third element such as Cr, Nb, etc. to a magnetic metal particularly to increase the corrosion resistance, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid-open) Nos. 57-15406 and 57-196508. However, almost all of these proposed prior art relate to magnetic recording tapes, and have not yet satisfied strict requirements for the reliability as required for computer hard disks, etc.